The Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Hints and Tips:

One way to reduce time when baking, is to use the handheld electric whisk, but I find working by hand with a wooden spoon is fine too.

It describes the milk to be used should be full fat but semi skimmed works fine. I've tried both and I don't notice a big difference.

This recipe is enough for 15 cupcakes, to be baked in muffin sized cupcake cases. My favourite are Morrison's brown for these but metallic gold work well for a more celebratory look.

You can use salted butter and leave the pinch of salt out of the recipe if you need to.

Recipe:

Dry ingredients:
200g Plain flour
40g Cocoa Powder (Cadbury's Bournville if you can find it is best)
280g caster sugar
3 level tsps of baking powder
A pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature. This is very important.
240ml Whole milk
2 Eggs
1/2 a tsp of Madagascar Vanilla Extract. (Extract gives a richer vanilla flavour, whereas essence uses more manmade ingredients)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 C (325 F) Gas 3. Adjust for fan assistant ovens (usually 10 C lower is fine)
Put the dry ingredients and the butter ina  bowl and work with a wooden spoon until the butter has been encorporated into the dry ingredients until you reach a sandy consistency.

In a seperate container ( I use the jug that i have used to measure the milk into ) whisk the milk, eggs and vanilla extract for a moment.

Slowly pour half the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until combined, using a rubber spatula to swipe any mixture on the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer up to full and whisk for a moment to get rid of any lumps.

Slowly pour in the remaining wet ingredients with the mixer on low, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.

Do not over mix.

Use an ice-cream scoop to evenly measure the lovely brown mixture into the cups. I sometimes use two soop spoons which you give you the same outcome. Making sure each cup has a similar amount in each. If you want a really even batch, put one small scoop in every cup, then return adding small amounts at a time until the mixture is gone.

Lick the bowl. =D

Bake for 20-25 minutes in the middle of the oven, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted into the cake after 20 minutes which comes out slightly wet needs another five minutes.

Cool in the trays for ten minutes then place on a wire rack.

Storage:

Allow to cool completely before putting the cupcakes into airtight containers to avoid moisture affecting the batch.
Freeze cupcake for up to one month in baking paper, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container ideally. Defrost thoroughly before frosting.